Amec BlackCat (ABC) is currently operating a maintenance contract for Qatar Shell GTL.

This contract was mobilised in January 2014, and since April 2014, a team of approximately 225 people have been carrying out the Mechanical Maintenance for the world's largest Gas To Liquids plant – Shell's QSGTL in Ras Laffan, Qatar.

Did you know the lubricants for the 2015 Ferrari Formula one cars come directly from this plant and are manufactured 100% from a clean gas stream?

Key to Shell's operations is a commitment to HSSE, Goal Zero (zero harm to people and the environment), asset Integrity, quality and productivity. Each year, the Shell Group (consisting of around 250, 000 people) holds an annual Safety Day in all locations around the globe for its employees and site contractors. The day is an opportunity for all employees and partners to gather together to focus on personal and process safety and make plans to take the next steps on the journey towards Goal Zero. Established in 2007, the day involves sharing ideas and good practices, working in teams on commitments to deliver continuous improvement in safety, and to reflect on our personal commitment to safety.

This year's Safety Day was held on 6 May at the QSGTL Site, Ras Laffan, Qatar and was attended by Shell, contractors and third party providers. The key message for the day was 'Achieving Goal Zero…because we care!' The two focus areas for 2015 were - NO HARM and NO LEAKS:

NO HARM > People Safety > Road Safety

NO LEAKS > Process Safety > Barrier Ownership

The day began with a mass tool box meeting of everyone addressing the above two themes and was attended by three Shell managers, as well as the Amec BlackCat CEO, Kevin Stephenson and the Amec Foster Wheeler HSSE Director MEA, Iain Walker.

As both the General Manager Maintenance Services in Qatar and AMEC BlackCat Site Manager at QSGTL, I was proud to give the introductory speech at the Tool Box meeting to focus our day on the above two themes. A year ago, on our first Shell Safety Day, we had just started our journey of onboarding our people, fully understanding Shell's expectations, procedures and processes. Now a year later, I was very proud to see the enthusiasm, the understanding, and the safety culture we have developed during the tool box meeting. I was particularly pleased to be able to announce the following which are clearly related to the two safety themes:

ABC had achieved 723,508 hours LTI free as on 15 April 2015.

ABC drivers have driven ~356,565 Km with a 100% 'Green' score from our in vehicle monitoring system (IVMS) over the previous year without any motor vehicle accident.

ABC has had no leaks and our weld failure rates were 0.4% which is best in class anywhere in the world.

ABC has successfully completed over 3,200 work packs since the start of the contract, which includes significant activities such as the GTG-4 shutdown, completing 28 reactor shutdowns.

ABC has 23 Goal Zero ambassadors now trained on our contract.

The next part to the day was everybody pledging their commitment to Goal Zero by signing to say they are a "Goal Zero leader" on the Goal Zero signs in front of the Shell facility.

All contractors, Shell and various third party providers put together booths that were too encompass the essence of the Safety Day themes, with all site personnel visiting these booths during the course of the day to reinforce the message and provide the opportunity to discuss and personalize safety.

As a mechanical maintenance contractor, our work potentially impacts process safety every day, being directly related to the operating envelope of the plant. For this reason, we wanted to make our booth fun but focused on process safety. The two key aspects of our booth was "Trivial Pursuit" and "Find the Errors". For "Trivial Pursuit" we had numerous question cards where visitors got a quick price for the correct answer - e.g. "is Molykote P37 allowed as thread lubricant in the oxygen plant?" – the answer being NO because no thread lubricant is allowed to be used in this plant. The main attraction was "Find the Errors", which focused on a 6" spool setup where we introduced significant a number of errors and faults for the visitors list and complete an entry for a draw to a number of prices down at the end of the day. Even Shell's most senior managers were seen actively trying to find the errors and this feature gained a lot of attention. We introduced errors like wrong gasket, missing gasket, bolt length too short, in-compatible materials, loose bolts, a flange labelled with the wrong torque sequence, missing spade etc.

When the winner was announced, it made me very proud to hear the excitement in the voices of our HSSE and QA/QC teams who had spent many hours and days getting the booth and materials together.

Mark Pattenden, General Manager for Shell Pearl GTL commented on Amec Foster Wheeler's participation after the event: "A very practical hands on demonstration and learning of the multiple quality issues the front line workforce and supervision can encounter when it comes to Flange and Piping makeup quality. What I liked was how this set up could be used for every day learning whether for newcomers to Pearl GTL or for a refresher for those with more experience. A clear connection was made to our Goal Zero journey to have a site that has No Harm and No Leaks."

It is extremely positive to have our commitment to HSSE recognised by a key client like Shell.

Qatalum is a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and Hydro Aluminium of Norway and produces high-quality primary aluminium products. The aluminium smelter plant is situated in the Mesaieed Industrial City, south of Doha, Qatar.

Training & Development Services (in conjunction with AMEC Black Cat) is pleased to announce we have won work to design and develop operator training for Qatalum’s Casthouse. Deliverables include:

a series of computer-based Training (CBT) modules covering the Casthouse operations

The Qatalum workforce consists of both expatriates and nationals who have a variety of knowledge and experience. The proposed training program will support in standardizing the process, and the trainees will gain the same base-level knowledge and experience to run and maintain Qatalum’s Casthouse operations.

Qatalum is a new client and a new industry for Training & Development Services. The project kicked off in December 2015 and is expected to be completed June 2016.